Spring is Right around the Corner.

I have already seen the increase in the market. Houses in my area (Brampton and Mississauga) are popping up on the market quickly and then disappearing just as quick.

If you are thinking of buying a house this spring there is a couple of things that you can do before hand to help make the process run a little smoother.

Get yourself pre-approved for a mortgage.  If it is with your Bank or a mortgage broker this step will do a couple of things for you:

1.     Lock you into a Rate for your mortgage for up to 120 days.

2.     Tell you exactly how much you can afford

3.     By getting everything ready for the Mortgage agent beforehand will mean that you will have a lot less running around once you get your home. 

Narrow down the area you want to live in. If you are thinking of moving to a new area that you do not know much about, take a drive or walk around the area at different times of the week (at night or on the weekend) this will let you see what the people are like in the neighborhood at all times.

Compile a list of requirements. Break the list down into "must haves, preferred and wishes". We must have at least 3 bedrooms, but a 4th is preferred. A den or other bonus room is one of our wishes and so is having a laundry room on the second floor. This will make your job and your real estate agent's much easier.

Ensure you have the deposit ready. As you may or may not know you must have a deposit when you buy a home. This amount will be put towards the purchase price of the house and help in trust with the list brokerage until closing. If you have this ready and waiting it will be an easy trip to the bank to get the cheque once the offer has been accepted. Usually it is amount $5,000 for each deal.

Hire a buyers agent. A buyer’s agent is ethically required to do what is in your best interest in the real estate transaction. An experienced buyer’s agent is going to understand the market, and know how to whittle 1000 possible listings down to the five to ten that most meet your requirements. They will save you tons of time, tons of money, and tons of stress. This is where I come into play.

 

If you are looking to buy a home this spring or anytime. Please contact me and allow me to help you through the process.

My Networking Group Experience

My experience with networking groups all started a couple of years ago at a wedding, I was sitting across the table from someone that had said they were looking to move, as a real estate agent, this is when it is my job to offer my services. I got shot down very quickly because this couple will only use the Realtor in their networking group. This was completely new to me and I wanted to hear more.

I met with a man whose job it was to start and grow BNI groups.  Since every BNI group had a Realtor, my only option at this time was to start my own group.

After a couple of months of meeting we had grown our group to about 5 or 6 core people, who are still in the group today. After a year of trying to grow the group to the requirements required for BNI and not meeting them, we had to venture out on our own.  What many of us had found is after meeting with each other every single week for a year we had made great friendships and strong business relationships had also been formed.

Freedom Networking has now grown to about 20 official members and we are in the processes of forming an official not-for profit organization to support the goals of the group.  We have established rules and regulations for the group and in the next couple of months we will be having an official Freedom Networking launch party. This party is something that we have been aiming for, for quite a long time.

The basic rules for Freedom Networking are very similar to many other networking groups. 

1.       There will only be one person from every type of occupation allowed in the group,

2.       You must try to invite people to come each week

3.       And most importantly you want to try and bring referrals in to the group. 

We understand that this is a business meeting but we have a good time every week.  How else will you get people out of bed at 5:30am on Friday mornings?

I now have a trusting relationship with, a mortgage broker, Financial advisor, Personal/Business Coach, Accountant, Insurance agent, Painter, Home Inspector, Contractor, Home Staggers, Isagenix Professional , Video/Photography Guru, GTA Courier, Jewelry Maker, Personal Wardrobe Creator, Social Media/Networking coach, Sport Injury healer, a Web Developer and  a Promotional Products Creator.

This is so important to me because I have to trust the people that I am handing my clients off to for help in other areas that is not my specialty.

If you are looking to grow your business, I might suggest looking into finding a networking group. The business relationships formed in the group can last for years and the Friendships can last even longer.

If you want more information on Freedom Networking please contact me at suzannehanlon@royallepage.ca or if you would like more information on BNI you can contact Fred LeBlanc at talktoFred@rogers.com.

January Market Numbers

Below you will find a quick summary of some numbers for Brampton and then the entire GTA.

In Brampton during January there were 830 active properties, with 744 of them coming on the market during the month.  Out of all of these properties,  390 where sold with an average sale price of $342,750.00.  The Average numbers of market was 29 for the properties that sold.

The Sales in January all across the GTA were 13% lower than the Numbers for January 2010, but still remaining at a very stable 4,337 transactions. The average selling price Last month was over 4% with an increase of $427,037 from $409,058 in January 2010.

If you have any questions or would like numbers for any other specific area in the GTA please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Thank you TREB for the above numbers.